As you can see in the background of this I was once again playing with my setup. I switched between 8″ with Ventures and 8.25 with Thunders, but mostly skated the 8.25. The 8″ felt too small, but the Thunders felt like garbage. In about an hour of skating I landed kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, fakie bigflip, b/s flip. Ugh!

(setup 8.25 null glenosaur, jessup ultragrip, 148 thunder hollows, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, lems navy chillum size 12)
(pain level 2/10)

Woke up early and felt like skating the new park in hopes of it not being crowded. I got my wish and had the parks to myself. I had put a big washer on to stiffen up my trucks, but it was too much and made for some weird turns throughout the session. I warmed up in the skateable pumptrack section. Sure wish one of the quarterpipes had a flat top, but maybe I’ll get used to the weirdness. I never got a good noseslide, but didn’t really care to keep trying. I messed around with some of the quarterpipes along the edge that would be more fun if they had a deck. Then I took quite a while to do a kickflip to fakie on the bank. I did have a few pushes that felt alright.

Then I went over to dog park and had a very humbling session. I had a few things, but was amazed at how little pop i had. I could barely ollie a parking block. I got a couple little crooks, little front 50 on the little ledge, switch front nose, some boardslides. Got halfcab flip followed by b/s flip at one point, one terrible heelflip. I left for work feeling pretty down.

(setup 8.25 null glenosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast baseplate hollow hanger, 50mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, lems navy chillum size 12 no insoles)
(pain level 3/10 some hot pocket pain when I missed front 50s)

After another busy day at work and a quick dinner I met Kevin at dog park. I was wearing Lems and had a slightly larger board with smaller trucks. It felt flippy and surfy. Kevin was already in his groove doing hitting the ledges. I had a line that made my day and last month of not skating. Although I’m not sure I remember it but it was something like fake flip, switch 180, no comply 180, fakie bigspin. I couldn’t crook the ledge though. Had noseslides again, one really slow front 50 on the low manny pad. We went over to the Valmont park, Saul joined. The flyout laps were in full effect. Saul did some laps, but had to go because of knee pain. Doh. Kevin and I mostly skated the hump area. He did a great line. Grind the rainbow, pivot, slash, slash, nollie frontside flip the hip. Also a switch flip on the bank followed by a back 180 over the rainbow rail. Yes, all 1″ of it. I posed some treflips, but couldn’t get my speed or flick right. Going the other way I had some fun on the bank with first try no comply bigspin and bigflip. Both made me quite happy. Kevin was killing it manualling the volcano, back smith the barrier, nollie flip the bank. Mess around in the transition a little, the lack of a flat quarterpipe is annoying. We hit the hips for a bit at the end, but did not commit to b/s flips over the euro hip. Then we played a game of SKATE in the lights at dog park. I got a first try halfcab flip which also made me happy, but other than that didn’t land much. Kevin got me with switch flip, a couple more then ended with nollie tre which I was close. Kevin left and I tried to skate the manny pad ledge. After how decent of a night I had it really exposed how I couldn’t ollie. At all. It took me like 15 tries to get a very bad 50. Ugh.

(setup null 8.3 spanbauer, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.2 cast baseplate v-hollow hanger no big washer, spitfire f4 99a classic shape 50mm, lems navy chillum size 12)
(pain 3/10 still scared to fully push because of achilles)

After how bad my achilles hurt form the short session in Denver I decided no more skate shoes. I wore some old Xero Hana shoes and honestly they felt incredible. At no point did I feel like I have my normal skate pains. But I guess the big thing is I really didn’t try much. Kevin was there first and he was hitting the ledges. I kind of messed around but was super cautious. After awhile I did a kickflip! It did not hurt and man it felt good. Dave showed and we eventually all ended up skating the barrier area. We did some silly rides to fakie, Dave had a rad one where he grinded back down it. Kevin charged some to back 50. Kevin was unable to get front 5-0 and slammed hard on the crooks. He had to take off. Dave and I kept it mellow. Dave’s pivot shove feeble line was great. I did a few more kickflips, a rock to fakie followed by a fakie flip which Dave would get too. Then Dave and I went over to the pump track. I mean, the concrete pump track/ scooter kid flyout park. It was mellow though and we were able to have some fun. The bank area is pretty cool. I did the line with the barrier ride then kickflip fakie a few times. I tried another one with a rock fakie then halfcab flip, but never got the right speed. Had some fun side disasters, but couldn’t turn them in to fakie. Dave had some good nollies over the hip, the sickest switch board 180 transfer into the bank, switch ollies on the bank and more. All in all a fun day. I was only supposed to skate around 30 minutes, I skated close to 3 hours. My achilles was sore near the end, but not bad.

(setup 8.25 null glenosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow no big washer, 50mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, xero minimalist hana shoe with lems insoles)
(pain level 3/10 still just cautious of the little pain in my achilles)

Was in Denver to see the Dr and he gave me the okay to skate a little bit. So I quickly ended up at one of my favorite spots – this granite ledge. Pushing two blocks to get there did not feel as good as I had hoped. When I got to the ledge I just threw down and tried crooks. I felt incredibly rusty and it took like 30 tries to get this mediocre one. Switch front noses still felt good. I hated being in skate shoes for the first time in a month.

(setup 8.25 null glenosaur, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger, 92a doh doh big bushing venture little bushing no big washer, 50mm spitfire f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric cream 212 size 12, custom nike sb/es insoles)
(pain level 5/10 achilles but more of a recovery feeling pain nulike the pain when i started to hurt it)

Feeling tired after my first day of work in awhile I went across the street after dinner and after the rain dried up. I had my 8.3 setup, but with the same wheels. It took me like 7 tries to get a kickflip. I just couldn’t land anything. I had a little fun incorporating the mini bank into some lines. Like doing cab kickturn or ollie to fakie. I got one halfcab flip and couldn’t get a heelflip. So I posed a lot. Trying a bunch of nollie or switch flips. I would commit to both, but never got feet on them. Overall an absolutely terrible session and I officially hit the wall on large wheels again.

(setup 8.3 null jack night skate, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger, venom 88a big 91a small bushings, 53 mm orange/yellow swirl spitfire 99a f4 classic shape, es swift 1.5 b/w size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After work and a couple errands I arrived to doh park. It was cloudy with rain threatening and there was a grip of kids there. I had changed my setup again- 8.5.  It felt amazing.   I mean flip tricks didn’t, but I skated the ledges better than I have in months.   I started some lines along the lower ledges.   50s and 5-0s were coming so easy.  Almost got nose manual.  Then along the regular section wallie, front 50.  Crooks then front 50 180.  Noseslide fakie then halfcab noseslide.  Switch front nose to forward then nollie front tail.  The rain had started and the lake was super slippery so I didn’t really try many flippers.  I skated hard, had fun. Would have liked to skate more but the rain settled in. 

(setup 8.5 null smoke valley, jessup pj ultragrip, venture 5.8 cast baseplate titanium hanger, venom 88a big 91a small bushings, 53 mm orange/yellow swirl spitfire 99a f4 classic shape, es swift 1.5 b/w size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 2/10 just slight hip flexor pain)

Feeling out of it and kinda sick after a bad night of sleep where I woke up at 4:30am for some reason I went to Boulder park.  I had changed my setup.  Basically just put my 5.6 trucks on a 8.3 deck and put some new bearings in some old orange 53mm spits.  It felt odd initially, but I recognized it and stayed patient.  Other than an axle nut that kept coming off it went alright.  I did a few backside ledge tricks and struggled a bit with crooks.  Then took way too long to get halfcab noseslide.  I couldn’t get a good front 50 on the bank to ledge after.  Had some okay front 50s from the top part of the ledge trying to go into the bank, but never quite made it.  Did a few ollies onto the various ledges.  There were a few people there.  One dude was wearing a facemask, but asked me if I wanted to share a joint with him.  A couple other dudes were there that made sure not to make eye contact of any sort or even just a quick nod hello.  I tried several switch flips on the tiny bank, none were close.  At one point I was totally over the larger wheels, but I did eventually notice they made ledge feel less tall.  I had some fun nollies and switch ollies over the little tiny hump.  Overall a pretty blah session, but for how sick I felt it went alright.

(setup 8.3 null jack night skate, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast baseplate hollow axle riptides, 53mm orange/yellow spitfire classic shape f4 99a, es swift 1.5 b/w size 11.5 no insoles)
(pain level 2/10 !!! just a little hip flexor pain)

On a nice cool day with rain threatening I met Kevin at dog park.  There were several puddles around, but mostly things were skateable.  I had setup a new 8.3 deck since I didn’t like the old 8.25 I had temporarily setup the day before.  I liked it.  We armed up on a bank to curb we built out of the two wedges and it was fun.  I should have gotten a clip for understanding but it was the steeper grey wedge to parking block that was about 2″ taller than the bank.  We both did some pivots/axle stalls/front tails.  Kevin added in back tail, switch pivot and switch front tail.  We had a few boardslides on Wally World and flippers too.  We skated around for a bit before settling in on the little guy.  The smaller wedge was right behind it and it was fun to do a trick, turn around on the wedge then do another trick.  Kevin totally destroyed it.  Switch flip 50?  Yeah.  He almost did fakie front 50 f/s halfcab out too.  I had some fun mirror line attempts like nollie 50 then fakie 50, front 50 back 180 out then back 180 front 180 out.  Then I spent way too long working on the little kid trick  – front 50 kickflip out.  Never got a clean landing, but it was fun trying.   Garrett showed right at the end and we did some halfcab heel noseslide hucking before the rain came in.  We ended up at a spot later and I filmed Garrett get a solid little line.  

(setup 8.3 null spanbauer night deck, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow 148, bones stf v1 52mm 103a, new balance numeric 212 cream size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 4/10 probably sore because of too many ciders lately)

On a rainy night we had a friend gathering at Square House. After some good veggies and drinks Gordo said “lets go take a run in the park.” With no idea it would turn into a full session we did some runs. At first it was just Gordon, Rob and I, but after awhile Brian joined in and Jack did a little too. Initially we cruised around, but all settled into some stuff. Gordo wrecked the tight window sill qp. Back rock, front rock, front pivot and close to some more. Rob had some lofty beanplants over the hip, front board pop outs on the bank to ledge, one foots on the banks and more steez. I had some axle stalls, noseslides, crooks and posed some flippers. Brian mostly went at the window sill too. He got some frontside tough guys and grind. After awhile Brian went in on the nollie tres which turned into all of us skating flat. Jack was the first one to land one and would also get a switch tre on a zip zinger. I got close to a first try treflip on a mini board but went on to not land a nollie treflip on my regular board in like 100 tries. I was so close to several at least. Gordon landed his first one ever and of course it was so good. Brian got close, pretty sure he will get one by his 50th. Rob had some kickflips, some other tricks and some wallride nollies the bank to wall. Heck of a good time with good people. And thanks Jack for putting an end to my cracked deck

(setup 8.38 null jack night skate, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate v-hollow hanger, venom 88a big 91a small bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, new balance numeric 212 cream size 12 with nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 4/10)